News update on songwriter streaming royalties discussions
There’s been loads of industry ‘discussions’ regarding fixing payment rates for songwriters and publishers within the music streaming sector, particularly in the USA.
A ‘significant increase’ in the amount of royalties paid to songwriters and publishers had been agreed and passed through the US courts but the is being appealed by Spotify, Google, Amazon and Sirius (who also own Pandora, a service not currently available in the UK).
Currently, Apple (for their Apple Music service) stand alone in not appealing the ruling.
It’s completed stuff but this article does as good a job as any in outlining what the current situation is. Our favourite sentence is “Spotify et al’s appeal, filed last month, argues that, to avoid giving the major music companies too much power, a ‘cap’ should have been introduced by the CRB Judges, which would ensure that no method of payout to publishers could ever exceed the equivalent of $0.80 per paying subscriber, each month, of each service.” Oooo a whole $0.80 from Spotify Premium’s USA mostly cost of £9.99 (plus tax)!
To read the article (CLICK HERE)